Wither in denial
by DeviantAccumulation
Summary: Love is such a difficult, random and sadistic thing. And rejection is more painful than being burned alive. But betrayal is the thing, that is going to kill you from the inside out.  Pairings: IchiRuki, RenRuki, UraIchi, UryHime, IchiTats, past!IchiHime
1. Prologue: Bitter truth

A/N: A little experiment of mine to focus a bit more on relationships and love between the different characters. There are going to be different romances in this story, but not all are going to last. Unrequited love, cheating and other dark themes. Not all is going to be like it seems to be on the first glance.

I can't promise, that this story is going to be completed, because it is just like I said before just an experiment, though I already have worked out a whole story line. There is going to be shonen ai, you've been warned.

Please excuse my bad english, it ain't my mother tongue. Feel free to tell me about any mistakes I've made, if someone wants, he/she can beta-read too, I would be very glad about that.

Now, have fun with reading!

Prologue

31st January, Kuchiki Manor

„Excuse me, Ukitake-taichou?" Ukitake turned away from the waiter of whom he had just taken a glass of champagne. "Yes, what can I do for you, Kuchiki-san?"

"I just wondered, if you could tell me, where Renji-fukutaichou has gone?"

"Hm, I think he wandered off with Kuchiki-taichou somewhere into the garden at the west."

"Thank you very much, Ukitake-taichou." Politely she bowed shortly before the captain and then turned on her heels to the location Ukitake had given her.

Carefully giving attention to not fall over her in her opinion way to long dress, she found her way through the groups of guests which were standing in the Kuchiki Manor. Nearly all of them were related to the greater noble houses of Soul Society, however, she also spotted a few high ranked captains like Soi Fon or Unohana Retsu.

It was her Nii-samas 125th birthday, which was celebrated with a great party. Though she had already been in the Kuchiki family when he became 100 and the clan invited nearly the whole Seireitei – except the 11th division, because of, well, obvious reasons, she still was amazed by the effort, the members put into these events.

Everywhere stand luxurious furniture, tables bowed under the weight of the extravagant food which lied on dishes made of porcelain and gold.

Anywhere stand formal dressed waiters, always ready to serve drinks or to refill the dishes.

Hell butterflies, especially made for this purpose, flattered shortly under the ceiling, shining in a dim golden light. Beautiful flowers stand in slender vases everywhere and filled the rooms with their scent.

But the guests had not be afraid of presenting themselves in the most wasteful ways.

Expensive dresses and colourful dresses were cast all over the hall. Only the shinigamis present had appeared in their traditional clothing.

Rukia herself was dressed into a midnight blue, full length dress which matched perfectly with her dark hair and the violet eyes. A silver necklace with a pendant in form of a dewdrop was the only jewellery she wore.

The low heels at her also blue shoes clicked with every step she took on the marble floor.

She had firmly refused to wear shoes with only centimetre higher heels, since she thought that there was not any more futile invention than shoe heels.

Finally, she had been able to make her way through the crowd and stepped into the garden. The fresh night air was not as cold as it should be at this time of the year, but with a little kido none of the guests, which appeared occasionally to have not dressed for a cold winter day as it was now, had not to worry about fetching a cold.

Above her were arches covered with vine plants. Before the black sky little fireflies lit the darkness together with the lanterns that stood aside the path.

Away from the main path and outside the lustre cone of the lights she made out two schemes, which could be Byakuya and Renji. As she walked nearer them, she recognized Renjis bright red hair.

Suddenly she watched how Renji shortened the distance between his and Byakuyas face. Shocked, she stopped in her tracks. That could not be. Renji was kissing Byakuya? Her eyes had to fool her. Just in that moment, fate decided to let one firefly fly past the two shinigami. The weak light felt only shortly on the both, but it was sufficient to confirm the truth she did not want to see.

She had seen enough. Turning on her heels, she ran away from them while her whole world crashed down.

Three months later, Karakura Town, Karakura High School

"Um, Ichigo, do you have a minute?" Surprised by the shy tone of her voice, Ichigo looked up from his lunch packet. "Of course, Rukia, what is it?" Instead of answering she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the class room, away from the others.

Slightly wondering, he let himself be brought into an empty corner of the school building. Making sure, there were not any persons which could hear them, Rukia cleared her throat before speaking: "So, um, ya know, I've seen you looking at me all the days over the last week and I… I wondered…" "How I feel about you?" Ichigo helped her. She nodded in silence, not trusting her voice. Ichigo smiled slightly embarrassed. "Well, seems like you caught me…" Nervous, he scratched the back of his head. "So, hm, you see…" Damn it, he thought. I can't form any reasonable sentence. What shall I say, what shall I…

His thoughts stopped all at once, as he felt Rukias soft lips on his. Completely shocked he freezed in his movements, before coming back to his senses and started kissing her back.

As they finally parted, both of them were flushed and panted slightly.

Rukia was the first of them to break the silence. "I feel very strong about you", she whispered. "I don't know, if that what I'm feeling is exactly what you feel for me, but I really want to find out, so… would you like to go out with me this evening?"

Ichigo took her hands into his and smiled. "There isn't anything I would like to do more."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A slight tremble of the Shoten let Urahara nearly spill the hot tea he was filling into the cups. Normally, the training room was made to prevent earthquakes like that, but Chad's El directo seemed to have enough power to let the basement shake. Sighing, Urahara noted mentally to amplify the insulation of the basement as he finished making tea. Setting the cups on a tablet, he made his way down the ladder to the ground of the training room.

The whole area there was filled with dust and flying rocks. From time to time, blue arrows flew out of the cloud. The air brimmed with powerful reiatsu, but Urahara could tell that it was already lessening. The end of the fight was near. So he set the tablet aside and sat down cross legged to watch the outcome of the battle.

The three youths, Ichigo, Chad and Uryuu had come this afternoon after school to him, asking if they could use the basement for a battle royal. Now it was near ten o'clock and they were still fighting. Good thing, that Ururu and Jinta were off with Tessai, otherwise he would have had to put an end to this, since the kids needed their sleep.

He saw, how Ichigo flew out of the dust, clad in the cloak, he always wore when he was in bankai. His hollow mask was not up anymore, though Urahara had still felt the hollow-like reiatsu around a dozen minutes ago. But now it seemed as if time had wore off. Rising his black sword above his head, Ichigo released a huge wall of black and red energy across the field. Urahara was slightly surprised, that he was still able to pull of this much of energy, however, the teen seemed to really have a nearly infinite amount of reiatsu. The substitute shinigami really was something…

No, no, no! Trying to change the direction, his thoughts were wandering, the shopkeeper shook his head. Even though he attempted the focus on the battle again, he could not help but think of how sexy Ichigo looked in his Bankai form and how the clefts in the shikashuko were showing really nice parts of his body… The sudden urge to bang his head against the ground seemed pretty overwhelming as his thoughts always seemed to return the teenager.

He had this crush on Ichigo now since at least one year and his hope that his heart would finally come to its senses was vanishing. No matter how often he told himself, that loving Ichigo, who was the son of one of his fucking best friends and CENTURIES younger than him, was definitely NOT a good idea, it did not stop. He could write a book with reasons why he should not be with Ichigo, and still, it could not be helped.

He was totally sure, that Ichigo had not any kind of romantic feelings towards him, since he was pretty good at knowing what was going on in other peoples head. From what he knew, Ichigo probably was not even gay.

To Ichigo, he was a teacher, maybe even a good friend, but not a lover, and sometimes he just wanted to break down and cry over that fact.

Ichigo was pretty exhausted. Each sword strike took a little bit more effort, every movement seemed to get slower and slower. Luckily, he was not the only one, who was at the end of the line.

"Let's stop", he could hear Ishida call through the basement and even if he would not admit it to openly, he was damn happy about hearing those words after hours of hard fighting and not holding back a tiny bit of his power.

"Hi there, ready to get some tea?" he could hear a sing-song voice echoing, knowing it had to belong to the crazy shopkeeper.

Softly, he landed on the dusty ground he had been hovering over till then and made his way over to Ishida and Chad, who were already taking their cups.

"Arigato, Urahara-san" he mumbled as he took his and sat himself cross-legged on the ground, not caring about his shikashoku to get dirty.

"Well then, be sure to bring those cups back in ONE piece to the kitchen, Tessai was pretty furious when you've destroyed the other ones." Urahara said, as he snatched up the tablet and made his way over to the ladder.

"So, Kurosaki-kun, how was your date with Kuchiki-san yesterday? I'm surprised you finally had the guts to tell her though" Ishida said.

The substitute shinigami cringed and nearly spilled his tea all over his lap. Why couldn't the Quincy just keep his mouth shut? His eyes wandered to Urahara, who had stopped in his tracks with the back turned to them. Great, now this perverted old shopkeeper knew. He fucking KNEW. And he would tease Ichigo with this fact a lifetime… and probably still in death, since he was a shinigami.

"A date?" Urahara asked. Ichigo knew, one dark night Ishida would die painfully in an empty dead end.

"Well, my congratulations, Kurosaki-san!" the shopkeeper said and then started to climb up the ladder. Ichigo blinked. He certainly must have misheard something. No tease, no taunts? He looked at Ishida and Chad, seeing his surprise mirrored in their faces.

He barely managed it to his room, before he broke down. Trembling fingers closed the shoji door and then he crumbled to his knees, face buried in his hands as the tears started to run down his cheeks. He bit his lip in attempt not to cry out loudly, not to scream at the pain as his heart finally broke in two.

Hell, he had known it would be like this. Ichigo and Rukia always had been very good friends. She had changed his life, saved him and his family from death even though she knew the price and he in return had stormed Soul Society, not letting himself get stopped by anything and saved her.

It was only natural that sooner or later they would fall in love with each other, since they had always shared a very special bond. A bond, that Ichigo did not shared with him.

Damn it! He had known since the beginning, that Ichigo did not love him. But to have the evidence pointed right out at his face and his last bit of hope crashed was another thing.

'Life really is a bitch' he thought, his shoulders shaking with the quiet sobs.

Had he not promised himself to not let anyone or anything so near to him after his banishment from Soul Society? And here he sat again, feeling as if his heart was ripped right out of his chest, for another time.

'…how was your date with Kuchiki-san?' The words kept echoing in his head and he could not help but feel the envious hatred he felt towards the petite shinigami. Damn her. May one of this hollows rip her apart one day, a slow, painful death… No, he should stop those thoughts. After all, Rukia was not the one to blame for Ichigos feelings. And if she was the one, that made Ichigo happy, he should be happy about those two too. Or at least he would try.

"Ishida, you damn Quincy, you did that on purpose" Ichigo said angry. Uryuu just pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "He would have found out sooner or later. To be honest, I was surprised that he did not even know yet. And" Ishida smiled a sadistic little smile. "I wanted to see how he would tease you."

Before Ichigo could answer, Chad raised his voice. "Still, I wouldn't have thought that he would react this way."

Ishida nodded. "You're right, that was really… strange."

"Ph", made Ichigo. "Concerning the geta-boushi, is there anything that ISN'T strange?"

"Yes, but that just…" "Maybe he's having his period, what do I know" Ichigo cut Ishida off.

"Or maybe he just wanted to be friendly." The shinigami and the Quincy looked at Chad.

Finally, Ichigo shrugged. "Who knows? That guy is a mystery I would not get behind in a hundred of years." "No wonder when you regard your dumbness, shinigami" Ishida said.

While the two of them continued their argument, Chad wondered if they would ever grow up.

Ichigo closed the front door as quietly as possibly, not wanting to wake his sister or (God forbid) his father. He made his way up the stairs, entering his room.

"Rukia" he said stunned, as he saw the shinigami sitting on his bed. She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled. "Hi, Ichigo." Trying to ignore the butterflies that fluttered through his stomach he took a few steps towards her. "But I thought, you had to return to Soul Society for at least two days." She nodded. "Yes, but I managed to convince Ukitake-taichou that I would return earlier."

Gently, Ichigo hugged her. "Seems like I have to find a way to thank him."

As Rukia laughed, Ichigo thought, that he never heard anything more beautiful in his life.


	3. Chapter 2

He would get over it. Or at least, that was, what he told himself. Time would heal any wounds, and even if it would take decades, somewhere in the future, he would probably laugh at how stupid he was back then, to fell head over heels in love with his student.

But no matter how good the arguments of the tiny little part of his brain that was still logical thinking were, the numbness and emptiness were his heart had once been would not go away.

He thought about turning to the side and trying to get at least half an hour of sleep in this whole night, but he already knew that it would be in vain.

So he continued to stare blankly at the wooden ceiling above him and tried to find an answer to the question of when he had become such a pathetic depressed man.

That would be presumably a year ago, two years after the winter war ended.

Aizen had been defeated by Ichigo, who had been since then the hero of Soul Society. After the execution of the former captain, things had gone back to normal. The demand of Soul Society, that the substitute shinigami should join their ranks as a vice-captain, and, when he had gathered enough experience, become a captain, had been firmly refused by the teen. So he had stayed in Karakura Town, finishing school and was now studying PE at university here. Although there were not any more enemies at the moment, he had continued with his training, especially with the vizards, to improve the control of his hollow, and with him, Urahara, to finally learn some kido.

He chuckled sadly at the thought, what a hopeless case the vizard had been first. Though he had average control of the outlet of his reiatsu, the finesse, that was indispensable for kido, had been completely missing. So he had to start with the very basics that any student at the shinigami academy learned. Things like meditation, creating small balls of light and all those simple things that others mastered in days. Ichigo had needed a whole week, before he was able to calm down enough to make a marble of reiatsu that would not break down when he was disturbed.

It had been funny to watch the youth, who was a master in learning new sword techniques and anything else when it came to physical combat, struggling with those simple things.

But although it had not been easy, he had to give Ichigo credit for not giving up even once, even if he knew, how frustrating it had to be for him.

After a lot of training, he finally became capable of chanting simple Bakudo-spells. Step after step, he mastered Hado and higher Bakuda-spells. Even if he was not able now to enchant spells over thirty with Eishōhaki, he managed healing spells that would at least heal simple minor wounds.

At that point, their training had already been stagnating, due to the pressure of school and his duties as a substitute shinigami.

It was then, when he noticed, how much he missed their lessons together. How Ichigo would stay after the training, playing with Ururu and Jinta, helping in the shop or just drinking a cup of tea with Urahara.

Back then, he started counting the days since Ichigos last visit, every time he came, happiness would wash through him and every time he left, loneliness crept back.

When he was there, it was, if as his whole world was suddenly centred on the youth.

It took him nearly a whole month, till he realized, what this feeling was, and another one, to admit this fact to himself.

Love.

That had been a half year before now. Half of a year, where he had been fighting with himself, whether to tell the youth of his feelings or not. He had no evidence or even a hint that Ichigo would return those feelings and he did certainly not want to destroy their friendship. Of course, other arguments like: He is the son of one of your fucking best friends, or, He is about one and a half century younger than you, played into it too.

So he had waited and watched the youth from distance.

His fingers clung in the fabric of the bed sheets as he once more reminded himself, that even the slightest chance of a return of his feelings to Ichigo had now been wiped away.

"Tenchou?" The knock at the door startled him completely for a moment. Trying to calm himself down and let his voice sound rather sleepy and neutral than desperate and heartbroken, he replied: "Yes, Tessai?" Slightly proud of himself, he noticed, that there was no tremble in his words, his experience in pretending were helping a lot.

"Kurosaki-dono, Ishida-dono and Yasutaro-dono want to speak with you."

He suddenly was very happy about the door between him and Tessai so his friend would not notice the cringe that went through him, as he mentioned Ichigo.

"Can't that wait? It's still so early in the morning… I need my sleep." Blatant lie. He knew that there were not any chances that he would get any sleep now, but he could not face Ichigo like that.

"They said that it's very important."

"My sleep is very important too."

"Urahara-san!" He suddenly heard Ichigos voice shouting from behind the door. "Either, you come out of this room within the next ten seconds, or I'm going to break the door open."

Oh, wait, no no no! Definitely not good!

"Ten!" He heard Ichigo start to count from the other side of the door and with a sigh, he finally accepted his fate. He grabbed the kimono, that lied aside of his futon, swiftly clad himself into it, sat the hat on his head and grabbed the fan.

He opened the door, before Ichigo reached 'four', fanning himself as if nothing was wrong.

Looking into Ichigos face, he was glad like never before in his life, that he had said fan and hat. Otherwise the youth would have immediately noticed the flash of sorrow and pain in his face, before he was able to put his façade up again.

"So", he said, stifling a fake yawn. "I hope, this is really important, otherwise I'll have you to clean up my shop the whole next month."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He would get over it. Or at least, that was, what he told himself. Time would heal any wounds, and even if it would take decades, somewhere in the future, he would probably laugh at how stupid he was back then, to fell head over heels in love with his student.

But no matter how good the arguments of the tiny little part of his brain that was still logical thinking were, the numbness and emptiness were his heart had once been would not go away.

He thought about turning to the side and trying to get at least half an hour of sleep in this whole night, but he already knew that it would be in vain.

So he continued to stare blankly at the wooden ceiling above him and tried to find an answer to the question of when he had become such a pathetic depressed man.

That would be presumably a year ago, two years after the winter war ended.

Aizen had been defeated by Ichigo, who had been since then the hero of Soul Society. After the execution of the former captain, things had gone back to normal. The demand of Soul Society, that the substitute shinigami should join their ranks as a vice-captain, and, when he had gathered enough experience, become a captain, had been firmly refused by the teen. So he had stayed in Karakura Town, finishing school and was now studying PE at university here. Although there were not any more enemies at the moment, he had continued with his training, especially with the vizards, to improve the control of his hollow, and with him, Urahara, to finally learn some kido.

He chuckled sadly at the thought, what a hopeless case the vizard had been first. Though he had average control of the outlet of his reiatsu, the finesse, that was indispensable for kido, had been completely missing. So he had to start with the very basics that any student at the shinigami academy learned. Things like meditation, creating small balls of light and all those simple things that others mastered in days. Ichigo had needed a whole week, before he was able to calm down enough to make a marble of reiatsu that would not break down when he was disturbed.

It had been funny to watch the youth, who was a master in learning new sword techniques and anything else when it came to physical combat, struggling with those simple things.

But although it had not been easy, he had to give Ichigo credit for not giving up even once, even if he knew, how frustrating it had to be for him.

After a lot of training, he finally became capable of chanting simple Bakudo-spells. Step after step, he mastered Hado and higher Bakuda-spells. Even if he was not able now to enchant spells over thirty with Eishōhaki, he managed healing spells that would at least heal simple minor wounds.

At that point, their training had already been stagnating, due to the pressure of school and his duties as a substitute shinigami.

It was then, when he noticed, how much he missed their lessons together. How Ichigo would stay after the training, playing with Ururu and Jinta, helping in the shop or just drinking a cup of tea with Urahara.

Back then, he started counting the days since Ichigos last visit, every time he came, happiness would wash through him and every time he left, loneliness crept back.

When he was there, it was, if as his whole world was suddenly centred on the youth.

It took him nearly a whole month, till he realized, what this feeling was, and another one, to admit this fact to himself.

Love.

That had been a half year before now. Half of a year, where he had been fighting with himself, whether to tell the youth of his feelings or not. He had no evidence or even a hint that Ichigo would return those feelings and he did certainly not want to destroy their friendship. Of course, other arguments like: He is the son of one of your fucking best friends, or, He is about one and a half century younger than you, played into it too.

So he had waited and watched the youth from distance.

His fingers clung in the fabric of the bed sheets as he once more reminded himself, that even the slightest chance of a return of his feelings to Ichigo had now been wiped away.

"Tenchou?" The knock at the door startled him completely for a moment. Trying to calm himself down and let his voice sound rather sleepy and neutral than desperate and heartbroken, he replied: "Yes, Tessai?" Slightly proud of himself, he noticed, that there was no tremble in his words, his experience in pretending were helping a lot.

"Kurosaki-dono, Ishida-dono and Yasutaro-dono want to speak with you."

He suddenly was very happy about the door between him and Tessai so his friend would not notice the cringe that went through him, as he mentioned Ichigo.

"Can't that wait? It's still so early in the morning… I need my sleep." Blatant lie. He knew that there were not any chances that he would get any sleep now, but he could not face Ichigo like that.

"They said that it's very important."

"My sleep is very important too."

"Urahara-san!" He suddenly heard Ichigos voice shouting from behind the door. "Either, you come out of this room within the next ten seconds, or I'm going to break the door open."

Oh, wait, no no no! Definitely not good!

"Ten!" He heard Ichigo start to count from the other side of the door and with a sigh, he finally accepted his fate. He grabbed the kimono, that lied aside of his futon, swiftly clad himself into it, sat the hat on his head and grabbed the fan.

He opened the door, before Ichigo reached 'four', fanning himself as if nothing was wrong.

Looking into Ichigos face, he was glad like never before in his life, that he had said fan and hat. Otherwise the youth would have immediately noticed the flash of sorrow and pain in his face, before he was able to put his façade up again.

"So", he said, stifling a fake yawn. "I hope, this is really important, otherwise I'll have you to clean up my shop the whole next month."

„What's the matter?", Urahara asked, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. The sleepless night was starting to take its toll on him and it was getting more and more difficult to net let his feelings and tiredness show to the outside. The reason of all his problems sitting only a few meters away and continually staring at him was not helping at all. Once more happy about his hat and fan, he swallowed nervously. To his luck, everybody was to worried about the past incidents, so no one noticed the slight slump in his shoulders or the dark bangs under his eyes, effectual hidden by the shadow of his hat.

At his question, they all looked to him. Then Rukia started to explain.

The monstrous hollow growled at Rukia and Ichigo, the burning yellow eyes behind the white mask narrowing to slits. One of its limps, armed with thin, long blades swung in Ichigos direction. Easily, he leaned out of the way, just so far that the razor sharp weapon cut through the air mere inches from his head. However, Ichigo had already jumped high in the air, Zangetsu in both of his hands. The Zanpakuto sliced through the hollow like a hot knife through butter.

The hollow let out a sharp cry, but his body was already starting to dissolve into tiny black particles, which disappeared in the cold air of the fresh morning. Gracefully landing into the dew-wet grass of the park next to Rukia, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. „Don't worry, princess, the bad monster is dead." Playfully she boxed his side. „You were just showing off, oh prince of mine." A soft smile played around her lips as she leaned forward to kiss him.

That was when the roar broke through the silence.

Ichigos fast reaction was probably the thing that saved them. Just in time he ripped Zangetsu from its holding at his back, swinging it upwards to block the otherwise lethal attack of the hollow. His shocked expression was mirrored in Rukias, as they both saw the hollow, Ichigo had just slain standing before them, looking pretty alive and pretty enraged

Rukia drew Sode no Shirayuki, preparing to attack the hollow Ichigo was ringing with.

The hollow growled, rising to its full length, towering over the two shinigami.

Just as both thought, it would strike the next attack, leather wings, resembling that of a bat, only much more bigger, grew out of the hollows back. With one, two flaps he was high in the air above them. Just as Ichigo prepared to jump high to attack it, behind the hollow opened the black mouth of a Garganta in the sky. The hollow turned around and disappeared into the darkness of it.

The opening closed, leaving two very confused shinigami behind.

There was a short silence after Rukia ended and Urahara tried his best, to search for a clue in this riddle. His search was not really successful.

„Did you feel the hollow disappear completely?", he asked. Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other. „Um", stammered Ichigo. „We were a little bit... occupied at the moment..." His cheeks blushed slightly red. "I see...", trailed Urahara off, causing Ichigo to blush even more. On the inside, the hole, were his heart should be, became a bit greater. Shaking the feeling of, he tipped his closed fan against his mouth. "Maybe it was an ability of it", he murmured more to himself than to anybody else in the room. "But that would not explain why it fled... hmm."

"So, what do you think?", Ichigo pressed, as Urahara continued to ponder in silence.

The shopkeeper sighed. "The easiest way would be, that it was the hollows ability, but, a, I never heard of anything like that and, b, normally, when a hollow is defeated, he is not able to recall any Reiatsu or Reishi anymore, therefore no ability of his should work. Could have been that the one you 'defeated'" He marked the quotation marks with his fingers. "Was a doppelganger or kind of copy of the one, created with its ability."

"I always hear could and would", Ishida remarked. "Well, there is no clear solution, not with that less information. Only possibilities." Urahara shrugged. "Sorry, there is not really much I can say now."

"No problem, geta-boushi. Thanks anyways." Ichigo stood up, causing everyone else in the room to do so too. One after the other said there goodbyes, leaving the room.

Ishida was the last one to stay. "Now, Ishida-san, if you don't hurry up, you're gonna be late", Urahara said, as the Quincy made no attempts to leave.

"I wanted to ask you, what is going on", he said instead of moving, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Going on? Well, nothing's going on, Ishida-san."

"Something's troubling you, already since yesterday, if not even longer", Ishida said. "Don't pretend that there's nothing going on."

To be honest, Urahara was slightly stunned. He had always known that out of the group around Ichigo, Ishida was probably the most observant one, but not hat he would have managed to look past the masks he was wearing.

"My, my." Urahara pulled the rim of his hat deeper. "Guess there is no sense in denying it. But" He looked up. "That is really none of your business, Ishida-san", he said in the most stern tone he could manage at that time. Still, the Quincy did not seem to give up. "Has it something to do with the hollow?", he asked.

"What?" Urahara was surprised. Then he chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that."

"Than-" "I wish you a nice day, Ishida-san", Urahara said, turning around and walking to the door. "Urahara-san, wait!" But the shopkeeper had already firmly closed the door behind him.


End file.
